Berberian stays course
Defending NEPGA champ on good roll
PLYMOUTH — No one entered the 96th New England PGA Championship at Pinehills Country Club with a bigger bull’s eye on his back than Rich Berberian Jr.
Not only is the resident of Londonderry, N.H., the twotime defending champion of this event, in June he captured the PGA Professional Championship at Turning Stone Resort in New York and appeared in the PGA Championship at Baltusrol last month.
“Maybe a little more pressure on me this year to do it again, and I know there are a lot of guys out here who want to win this tournament pretty badly,” said Berberian, who also played in the 2015 U.S. Open. “I’m trying to put everything to the side and play golf this week and have fun.”
In addition to taking home a $75,000 check for his win in New York and a spot in the PGA Championship, it also got him into the second stage of qualifying school, the third of four tiers.
Having come up short at getting out of the first stage of qualifying for the past “five or six years,” Berberian said, the ticket to the second stage rejuvenated his thoughts about trying to qualify for the Web.com Tour, the step below the PGA Tour.
“This year I was kind of on the bubble. I wasn’t thinking I was going to do it because I didn’t think I was going to get to first stage. I think I was going to have to go to pre-qualifying, and I just didn’t want to do that again,” Berberian said.
Also weighing on him was having to balance keeping his competitive game sharp along with giving lessons and helping to run outings at Windham Country Club, where he is an assistant. Pre-qualifying runs late August to early September, and the first stage is late September and early October.
“That’s a tough time to play first stage because August, September and early October are busy months for the club,” he said. “I’m probably going to sign up pretty soon and figure out where I’m going. Second stage is in November, which gives me that extra month. After mid-October is when things start dying down (at Windham) and we call it a season.”
If he can get through the second stage, the final stage is Dec. 8-11 in Winter Park, Fla.
The 28-year-old enters today’s final round of the sectional championship in a five-way tie for seventh place at even-par 144 following a 1-under 71 on the Nicklaus Course. He shot a 73 on Pinehills’ Jones Course in Monday’s opening round.
If he is to make it three straight victories, however, Berberian will need to rally from 7 shots back as Matt Doyle of The Misquamicut Club in Westerly, R.I., has the lead at 7-under 137 following a 67 on the Nicklaus Course that included six birdies.
Doyle, 39, has a 1-shot lead on Bob Bruso of Worcester Country Club and is 2 ahead of Chris Trout and Eric Barlow of Winchester Country Club. Last year’s runnerup, Jeff Martin of Norton Country Club, stands fifth at 3-under, and threetime defending NEPGA Wogan Player of the Year Shawn Warren of Falmouth (Maine) Country Club is at 2-under in sixth.
Sixty-nine players survived the cut to today’s final round on the Nicklaus Course, with the cut coming at 10-over 154. The winner takes home $15,000 while the top 13 players will join Berberian at the PPC in June at Sunriver Resort in Oregon.